


These are the Good Days

by hiJaq



Category: Saving Hope, lintz
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-05
Updated: 2017-05-17
Packaged: 2018-10-28 04:53:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,558
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10824153
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hiJaq/pseuds/hiJaq
Summary: This is the story of Maggie Lin and Sydney Katz.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> If you want me to keep writing, let me know. I mean, I'll probably keep writing into a void to get the story out of me. But I've got this and then an AU planned. This is sort of a warm up for me to try and get their voices and characterization down, and to reintroduce me into creative writing again.

///

Maggie sat in the on call room for several minutes after _the kiss_. She tried picking up her phone to text Alex, but she ended up deleted every message she typed out. It felt too private. 

_Even for Alex?_ A small voice whispered in her head. 

Yeah, even for Alex. 

This wasn't her secret to tell. 

///

That resolve lasted all of about two afternoons. Alex tightened her jaw as Maggie paused the show for the fourth time and opened her mouth to speak.

"Nuh-uh," Alex stuck her finger out. "If you say the name Dr. Katz again I'm throwing the big pillow at you."

Maggie closed her mouth and hit play again, affronted.

About eight minutes later a big pillow went flying across the living room at Maggie's head. 

///

The guys were no help either. Larouche just kept badgering her about who the mysterious woman was, and Miller kept insinuating she was a lesbian now. The only one being halfway decent about the whole thing was Shahir. But the most he'd really been able to do was correct Miller as he swept by on his way to a patient, “She’s not gay, Dr. Miller, she's fluid." 

And Sydney, Dr. Katz herself, was probably the worst of the bunch. She wasn't even acknowledging _the kiss_.

"She's engaged." Maggie sighed and slumped onto the couch. It was midnight. Alex rolled her eyes out of Maggie's view and glanced at the white save-the-date envelope poking out of her own purse. She already got the memo. "I guess it doesn't matter anyway, because she's marrying Hershel after only knowing him for ten weeks, and apparently she'll have 'a lifetime of wedded bliss' to get to know him. And kiss him. When he least expects it." Maggie groaned and pushed her face into the nearest pillow.

"She's obviously only marrying him because she can't explore her lesbian love for you while still maintaining her title of Most Uptight Jew on the Planet. Did you pay the electricity bill?" 

"Do you think she's a lesbian?" Maggie asked quizzically, lifting her head off the pillow.

"Why don't you ask her?"

"You don't get it. She literally runs from my direction these days. Yesterday, we were performing a C-section, and she didn't make eye contact with me once. Not once. In fact, at one point, she asked Dauda to ask me if I would hand him the scalpel so he could hand it to her. Why bother asking me to assist if you're just going to treat me like a ghost?!"

"Maybe she wanted to keep you in her sights so you guys could do that desperate-longing-glance thing you're always doing when the other isn't looking." 

"I haven't paid the electricity."

"I knew it."

"Then why even ask?" Maggie quipped, as she pulled out her laptop from under a pile of text books. 

///

When Dr. Katz hugged Maggie her body went stiff on instinct. Dr. Katz was hugging her. Dr. Katz, who kissed her and then literally got engaged to escape her, is now hugging her. She knew she froze, and of course, Sydney didn't let it go.

"You don't think I'm going to kiss you again, do you?" 

"Are you?" Maggie couldn't tell if she wanted her to kiss her again or if she wanted to yell at her for making her feel all bunched up and confused and slightly turned on on an already shitty day. 

"Goodnight, Dr. Lin." Sydney said with a look like she definitely wanted to kiss her again. 

/// 

The way Sydney looked at Maggie, after Neshama told her wife about Sydney, was all the confirmation Maggie needed. Of course Neshama told the whole story, but with just that sentence ( _It was Sydney Katz who told my mother_ ), Maggie already knew what the story was. 

Sydney was hard on her because she liked her too. Maggie got it. She understood. She felt defensive of Syd, which was ridiculous given the circumstances, but she did. Neshama went through hell, but she made it through to the other side. Didn't she see that Sydney was still in that hell? Maggie's eyes were soft for Sydney for the rest of the night. Every splinter of pain Neshama caused Sydney tore through Maggie too. 

Sydney told her she was out of her depth. And maybe she was. When Maggie said, "Neshama's happy, do you get that?" She hoped Sydney heard what she meant. _You could be happy too. With a woman. With me._

///

Maggie felt the soft fabric land by her head. Her eyes were closed but she wasn't asleep yet. When she turned her head and opened her eyes she saw the surgical cap. It was a bold move. It was so _her_. Maggie's heart leapt up in anticipation, followed quickly by her body, aching down to her fingertips, as she stood up to look at Sydney Katz. 

"I like girls." She looked defiantly at Maggie. Syd was finally giving it up, but she wasn't letting go of her pride. "There. I said it."

Maggie decided then that she was going to reward her bravery. She was going to reward her all night for it. 

///

"What was that, uh, that thing you did before?" Maggie blinked innocently down at the splash of red hair resting on her chest. She felt Syd's small smile against her skin, but she didn't respond.

"Oh what, so now you're shy?" Maggie teased. 

Sydney lifted a heavy head and opened one eye at her, then squinted it in annoyance. "Be an adult, Maggie."

"Oh, I have been very adult. X rated, even." She drawled out as Sydney tried to move off of her, probably in an attempt to make a run for it. Maggie entwined every available limb around her to keep her still. 

"You're not getting away so fast." She lifted Sydney's arm and read her watch. "Since you don't want to talk, we have exactly one hour and twenty-five minutes for you to show me instead."

Sydney pulled herself up so her face was hovering over Maggie's. The want in her eyes was powerful, and Maggie swallowed hard. "Okay, Dr. Lin, you're on." And just like that her soft, hot mouth was licking into Maggie's, and her hips began their slow, warm rhythm against her body. 

Maggie's last coherent thought was that she could get used to this. After that, Maggie didn't think of anything other than _yes, and more, and there, right there, and Sydney, Sydney, Sydney fucking Katz_. 

///


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still plugging away at this story. Might take them all the way to London.

Dr. Maggie Lin was a lot of things, but she wasn't a girl who would accept a Daddy Crab Legs Crab Shack regifted gift card in exchange for never bringing up that super fun sex thing again with Dr. Katz. _No deal, Red._

But, because she was a lot of things, she _was_ a girl who would stupidly invite her last hookup on a date with her new, potential hookup, because she is weak, weak, weak when it comes to that long, dowdy skirt. 

"Alex, it was horrible," Maggie groaned into a pint of Ben and Jerry's. "Sydney knew for sure that it was a date, and she was there to watch me squirm, and maybe also to do harm to Dr. Dey. Not sure on that last part."

"I'd like you to rewind to the sex thing. You had sex with Dr. Katz?"

"Yes." Maggie looked over at Alex and tried to contain her delight. Her eyebrows wiggled all on their own.

"Fascinating. I somehow can't imagine Dr. Katz - how was it?"

"It was actually really, _really_ good. She's so gentle and yet surprisingly kinky-"

"Okay, sorry I asked." Alex was waving her hands in an attempt to get Maggie to stop with all the unwanted detail. She was invested in Maggie's happiness though, and she wasn't sure this thing with Sydney Katz would pan out in her favor. She didn't think they would even get this far. 

"Just. Be careful with that one, Maggie." Alex rustled her hair a bit, Maggie swatting her hand away, as she headed to shower. 

/// 

Maggie knew she was in for a day when Hershel Hoffman, Dr. Katz fiancé, appeared behind a curtain she pulled back in intake. She was flabbergasted at his excitement to meet her, guilt instantly seizing her. Out of the two people staring at each other, she was the only one who knew Sydney biblically. Or Torah-ly. _Do they say that?_ Her guilt quickly morphed into annoyance when he wouldn’t let her examine him. Orthodox Jews. They will be the end of her. She decided, at least initially, to grant his request not to page Sydney, and instead went straight into patient care mode. This was just another patient, who needed an accommodation, and she was a Doctor, able to accommodate. 

She began regretting her decision the moment Hershel started listing off details about her that Nurse Jackson was able to overhear. She wanted him to stop, but also to not stop, fascinated despite herself to learn how Sydney perceived her. 

Maggie went to find Sydney finally after sending Hershel off to get a CT scan. She wanted desperately to address the elephant in the room, the fact that Sydney was not doing a good job hiding her ... interest in Maggie to Hershel. She obviously felt more for Maggie than she let on. 

Everything went down hill from there. Sydney was determined to play the role of supportive and caring fiancé, and Maggie could see that she did care about him. In some way. When he suggested, right in front of Sydney, that God was punishing him, Maggie couldn't hold her tongue. This is the type of nonsense that has kept Sydney closeted and unhappy her whole life. 

She responded, failing to hide her attitude, "No. _Nobody's_ being punished." _Including Sydney_ , she wanted to say, just in case Sydney was getting any ideas. Sydney yanked her out of the room, and Maggie thought she was in trouble until she realized Sydney was genuinely worried about Hershel having cancer. 

When Sydney told Maggie God was testing her, Maggie thought _same._ She watched Sydney go back in to be with Hershel, less sure than ever that Sydney would be able to walk away from all this in time. Her wedding was like a bomb ticking down in Maggie's mind. 

Upon hearing Hershel's bacon confession after being banished from the room, Maggie had to bite her lip to keep from laughing out loud. Bacon was nothing compared to what Sydney had to confess. Maggie tried to gently prod Sydney into understanding why she was being so hard on Hershel, but the conversation didn't go as planned. It went a little more in the yelling direction than she was shooting for. 

"He ate _bacon_ , Maggie!" 

What Maggie thought was, _'You ate me, Sydney!'_ What Maggie said was, "I just mean that maybe you're looking for an out." 

Sydney said she wasn't looking for an out, but she must have heard something Maggie said, because just a few hours later she was reading a text stating that the engagement was off, and that Sydney was waiting for her in the call room. 

/// 

"Your nose twitched." Maggie had just told a newly single Sydney that everything was going to be fine, and Sydney called her out on the tick. Betrayed by her own nose. So maybe she didn't know if everything was going to be fine. She still wanted to comfort Sydney somehow. 

Maggie let go of Sydney's hand and reached out to wipe a tear. Then she wiped another one with her other hand, and then, before she knew it, she was holding Sydney's wet face in her hands. _Kiss it better._

Sydney leaned over and took her lips before Maggie even had the opportunity to initiate her new comfort plan. _Great minds_ , she thought. 

Sydney swung a leg over Maggie and straddled her lap, keeping their mouths attached the whole time. Maggie picked up the pace of the kiss, resting her hands on the small of Sydney's back, applying light pressure. Maggie felt herself losing some control, her hand on Sydney's smooth skin, wandering under her shirt, but suddenly pulled away from the kiss, a protesting Sydney gripping her shoulders. 

"What's the matter?" There was worry in Sydney's eyes. "Is this okay?" 

"More than okay," Maggie said quickly. "I just want to make sure this is what you want right now because-" 

"Maggie. Yes. I wouldn't be on top of you right now if I didn't want this." Sydney said with a touch of impatience. Sydney reconnected their kiss, pushing Maggie back against the mattress of the bottom bunk, a hand slipping under and up Maggie's shirt. 

Just then, Dr. Kinney walked in the on-call room and realized very quickly what she was seeing. The only red haired doctor in the hospital on top of Dr. Maggie Lin. 

"Oh for Christ's sake, put a sheet up next time," The veteran doctor said before turning to leave for another on-call room. 

Maggie and Sydney froze as she spoke, and then broke apart the moment she left, exchanging panicked looks. It quickly dissolved into laughter, both collapsing on the bottom bunk, hearts thumping and sticking erratically. They rearranged on the cot, Sydney's head laying on Maggie's chest, an arm thrown across her comfortably. 

Maggie hesitated before suggesting, "Soo, should we hang a sheet, or?" 

Sydney smiled up at Maggie, and Maggie watched patiently as it turned into a yawn, "As much as I want to, I think what I want more is to just stay like this. I've had a long day." Maggie could hear the tears in Syd's voice at the very end. Could hear the moment reality pulled her feet back to the floor. 

"Of course!" Maggie said, trying to mask her disappointment, but fully understanding. 

"Your nose twitched again." 

"You have got to stop that. It's not fair," Maggie chided, but continued. "I mean, yes, do I want to sleep with you right now? Yes. But have I also been up for 36 hours and want to actually just sleep next to you? Also yes." It was said in Maggie's signature cadence, her musical voice lifting Sydney's spirit with every word, her Maggie smile in full swing. 

Sydney looked adoringly at Maggie, letting her fingertips press and trace into Maggie's ribs through her scrub top absentmindedly. "Thank you." 

"Anytime," Maggie said, doubting Sydney would understand. _Really, anytime, anything, you want._

/// 

It was like Sydney only stayed at Hope Zion long enough to make sure Maggie passed her boards. She left the hospital without saying a word to Maggie about it shortly after. Joel died, and Maggie mourned with Alex, with the hospital, and Sydney was nowhere. Disappeared into space. She tried calling and texting but it was no use. When Sydney did respond it was distant, different, busy. She was happy Sydney was free from her Orthodox community, and out, but she wasn't apart of the picture anymore. She felt ripped from it along with Hershel, her family, Hope Zion, and anything else that reminded Sydney of the stakes she played - of the life she left behind to be who she is. It looked like Alex was right, but she wouldn't worry Alex with this. Not now. Sydney Katz would be Maggie's little, Jewish, almost _something_ burden to carry. 


End file.
